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54 CHAPTER 3component is internal factors or students’ beliefs and perceptions.
Internal factors are influenced by both personal and sociocultural
factors and classroom environmental experiences. Current research
on motivation indicates that internal factors (i.e, students’ beliefs
and perceptions) are key factors in understanding behavior. Most of
the attention in the chapter is given to the internal factors of moti-
vation. I begin this section with a discussion of what behaviors
determine students’ motivation and then discuss how personal and
sociocultural, classroom environmental, and internal factors influ-
ence motivated behavior.Motivated Behavior
If you want to understand your own motivation, you might begin
by evaluating your behavior in the following three areas:- Choice of behavior
- Level of activity and involvement
- Persistence and management of effort
Students make choices everyday about activities and tasks in which
to engage. Many students choose to learn more about a subject or
topic outside of class, whereas others limit their involvement to class
assignments. As an undergraduate, I had a roommate who slept until
noon each day. This behavior would not have been problematic if his
classes were in the afternoon. Unfortunately, all his classes were in the
morning. Another student I knew could not say no when someone
asked if she wanted to go to a movie or have pizza, even though she
had to study for an exam or write a paper. Students do not have to
be productive every moment. Having fun or wasting time is a part of
life. However, the choices they make play important roles in deter-
mining the number of personal goals they will attain throughout life.
A second aspect of motivated behavior is level of activity, or
involvement in a task. Some students are very involved in their
courses. They spend considerable effort after class refining notes,
outlining readings, and, in general, using different learning strate-
gies to make sense of what they are learning. Other students are
less engaged in their courses and do the minimal amount required
to get by.
The third aspect of motivated behavior is persistence. The willing-
ness of students to persist when tasks are difficult, boring, or unchal-
lenging is an important factor in motivation and academic success. In
many cases, students have to learn how to control their efforts and
persistence in the variety of academic tasks they experience. Let’s now
examine the factors that influence motivated behavior.